A federal decision not to fund a $20-million portion of the cost to build a new events centre for Thunder Bay has not sounded a death knell for the $80-million project.
City manager Tim Commisso on Friday said the city still plans to go ahead with a $125,000 Phase 2 feasibility study for the project, despite being rejected in the current round of P3 Canada funding, an infrastructure coffer that 120 municipalities applied for funding through in 2011.
“Nothing is going to fall into place off the bat. The reality of this is you have to know exactly what you want. You have to have done your homework and your feasibility before you go ask the province and the feds,” Commisso said.
Commisso added he thinks one of the main reasons the project wasn’t funneled through to the business case was that it was nowhere near shovel-ready, which appears to be a major criteria in the government’s decision-making process.
“I’m not surprised that we are where we are right now with that many applications,” said Commisso, who has repeatedly said the project, a new hockey arena and convention centre its main components, won’t go ahead unless both Queen’s Park and Ottawa come to the table with a share of the cost.
The city, through its Renew Thunder Bay fund, plans to make about $25 million in municipal money available to cover its share of the costs, but he said the city won’t bear the full brunt of the cost alone.
“Even though we have money earmarked, and it will be set aside for this project, $25 million, which is realistic over the next five or six years, it’s not a project that council has identified that we want to see 100 per cent funded,” Commisso said.
It’s unavoidable, at some point, he added.
“Whether it’s five years from now or whether it’s 10 years from now, good planning would dictate that we look at this and put money aside for it so ideally we don’t have to debenture and try to get other partners. We’re still on that track.”
Private sector funding is a possibility, though it’s in the pre-preliminary stage at this point.
“We haven’t explored it formally. We haven’t asked for expressions of interest, but that will be something we look at, especially with the involvement of PricewaterhouseCoopers.”
The company, together with CEI Architect and True Grit Consulting, will join the city in a consortium to complete the Phase 2 study, which is expected to be delivered to council by the end of March.
According to Commisso, the feds initially told city officials they liked the project and wanted more information, but in the end turned them down in the third round of P3 funding.
“There are a lot of municipalities now that have identified that they want to look at P3,” said Commisso, adding the federal government has indicated it has no money to spare for sports-themed facilities.
Commisso noted Fort William Gardens could survive in its present form, primarily as a hockey venue, for another two decades. However, that’s just not flexible enough for a modern city. He said he didn’t want to speculate on the likelihood of a new facility being built.
It’s baby steps from here, he said.
“I want to do the feasibility to the point of knowing what it is Thunder Bay should have,” he said.
Mayor Keith Hobbs, in Chicago for a Great Lakes conference, agreed.
While we are disappointed, the community supports this project and we need to complete the necessary feasibility work to get it right,” he said in a release issued late Friday afternoon by the city.
